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Responding to the vocal protests of a number of Montecito residents — up-in-arms over Caltrans’s recent removal of 12 eucalyptus trees along a stretch of East Valley Road that abuts the gated Birnam Wood community — Assemblymember Pedro Nava sent a letter to Caltrans on Thursday urging the agency to stop issuing additional permits that would mean the chainsawing of 28 more trees.

www.savemonteucs.com

Earlier this month, Birnam Wood residents filed for encroachment permits with Caltrans — a necessary step whenever a private entity wants to alter anything on a Caltrans right-of-way — in order to chop down a number of the 100-year-old trees. The residents of the golf course neighborhood claim the colossal specimens, with their dense foliage and flakey bark, would pose a significant safety risk to the community in the event of a fire. Caltrans, said spokesperson Jim Shivers, granted the initial permits without much question, citing public safety as the agency’s number one concern and asserting proper environmental reviews were completed. As Shivers wouldn’t release the names of the Birnam Wood residents who did the filing, no one there could be reached for comment.

Since then, those protesting the trees’ removal and a perceived lack of transparency in the permitting process have — in addition to gathering more than 1,000 signatures in support and creating a Facebook group and Web site — gone straight to the top, enlisting the support of 1st District Supervisor Salud Carbajal and Assemblymember Nava. The infuriated group, which recently spoke out during a special meeting of the Montecito Planning Commission, charges that the trees are a staple piece of Montecito aesthetics, possessing significant historical and ecological value. They worry that in addition to the 28 trees at risk, the remaining 87 would be soon to fall should things continue the way they are.

www.savemonteucs.com

In Nava’s letter to Caltrans, he requests an immediate moratorium on the approval of seven more encroachment permits for the contentious area. “While I appreciate CalTrans’ respect for the requests of Birnam Woods residents,” he wrote, “I have concerns that the wishes of the Montecito community at-large are being ignored, that the permit applications are based upon un-founded fears, and that the removal of these 87 trees will have long-term, undesirable environmental and land-use consequences.”

Nava also wrote that the pending encroachment permits aren’t exempt from California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requirements, “as exemptions do not apply if a project is, among other things, located in a particularly sensitive environment, results in significant cumulative impacts, or may result in damage to scenic resources.” Describing the trees as a “key aesthetic feature of Montecito,” Nava also cites his own concern that losing the trees could significantly impact native bird and monarch butterfly habitats.

www.savemonteucs.com

He had sharp words for Caltrans as well as Birnam Woods residents, calling both parties out for not releasing any environmental or safety reports, “Not only have I yet to see a report, or documentation of any kind … but I have yet to see any such documentation showing the benefit of removing these trees. In fact, I would like to know whether any sort of analysis has been conducted to independently ascertain the threat of these trees to the safety of the Birnam Woods community.” Nava could not be reached for further comment.

Shivers, speaking on behalf of Caltrans’ 5th District Director Richard Krumholz, said that his office has read Nava’s letter and is still reviewing the issues raised within it. Caltrans, he said, has not issued any more permits and is still looking over the remaining applications. He declined to say one way or another, however, how the agency plans to proceed. Shivers did point out, though, that during this time of review, it’s his and Krumholz’s hope that the two factions of Montecito community members and homeowners will create a dialogue and hopefully reach some sort of agreement.

Those on the tree-saving side of the fence are confident that Nava’s letter — in addition to prolific environmental attorney Marc Chytilo’s detailed letter to Krumholz that, sent on Wednesday, laid out legal reasoning why Caltrans should hold off on issuing any more permits — will help their cause. Montecito resident Sam Tyler, who helped spearhead the anti-removal movement, said that the group will continue to gather signatures and raise funds, but that “it’s great to have someone with authority on the state level on [our] side.” “We’re confident we won’t have to sue Caltrans,” he went on, “but if the [Birnam Wood] residents and Caltrans had properly pruned the trees in the first place, this wouldn’t even be an issue.”

The wisdom of letting blue gum eucalyptus trees remain in California residential areas is described as follows: "Living next to one of these trees is like living next to a fireworks factory staffed by chain-smokers."

The article goes on to describe in detail how the nonnative eucalyptus trees significantly degrade the natural environment for California's native plant, bird, and animal communities.

Celestial, Thanks for the Audobon link, it changed my mind. These trees should be cleared from residential and urban areas. Not sure what to do about them in rural and natural areas, except stop them from spreading.

"The residents of the golf course neighborhood claim the colossal specimens, with their dense foliage and flakey bark, would pose a significant safety risk to the community in the event of a fire."

versus

"The infuriated group, which recently spoke out during a special meeting of the Montecito Planning Commission, charges that the trees are a staple piece of Montecito aesthetics, possessing significant historical and ecological value."

And then we have the lawyer (Chytilo) who is fighting the SBBG because of fire safety concerns opposing the Birnam Wood group, who want the trees down because of fire safety concerns.

You just cannot make this stuff up - if there is not consistency how can there be credibility?

As a retired firefighter, I find it surprising that anyone in a community with the fire history of Montecito would trivialize the potential of Eucalyptus trees to spread fire to homes during a wind driven fire. Eucalyptus trees can easily ignite when exposed to open flame or embers, and in a wind driven fire, burning embers as large as six inches in diameter have been observed blowing away from these trees for as far away as a mile. When the embers land, they often ignite adjacent flammable material, such as roofs, wooden decks, or dry vegetation. When blown through windows, a common ignition source during conflagrations, they quickly ignite the interior of a home.

Yes, Eucalyptus trees are beautiful, stately, and noteworthy, but there is a risk to having them concentrated in neighborhoods. I urge you to carefully consider input from fire experts who have witnessed conflagrations involving Eucalyptus trees and make informed decisions on this issue.

At last!! A series of well-informed commenters who resort to facts rather than sentiment concerning the introduced eucalyptus spp. (particular thanks to Celestial!) Good on ya, Barbarinos! And I ditto Fred's and 7dolphins' comments about Mr. "I wanna be Att'y Gen" Nava. Good grief, Pedro, I hope you read the Audobon article, if you can take a break from doing political calculus.

Sacramento is burning while Pedro fiddles in Montecito. Hey Pedro - how about trying to get something (anything) accomplished in your current job in Sacramento. The state is going bankrupt and you seem to have a lot of free time on your hands. Whats with that?

Some say that Pedro Nava and Poco Nada are the same person. Others say that the former is the evil twin of the latter, while others claim that it is actually the other way around. Does anyone know for sure?

"I have concerns that the wishes of the Montecito community at-large are being ignored, that the permit applications are based upon un-founded fears, and that the removal of these 87 trees will have long-term, undesirable environmental and land-use consequences.”

On what does he base this concern?

"I would like to know whether any sort of analysis has been conducted to independently ascertain the threat of these trees to the safety of the Birnam Woods community.”

How can he have a bias (as voiced in the first quote cited) when he admits more investigation must be done?

Yes, the trees are pretty, but they are a fire danger. What more analysis do we need?

Whenever a euc gets cut down someone cries "Monarch habitat". Where did the monarchs feed before the eucs? How come no one cries fowl when a euc blows down?? Fire, its a real problem with them. Does anyone remember the Painted Cave fire when the eucs were exploding? Another problem is too much rain and saturated soil. Anyone remember the carnage of eucs that blew down in 1998 into the elementary school yard in Hope Ranch? Lucky for the school, the carnage occurred over a weekend and no kids were out on that play field. That area was replanted with riparian species and is doing quite nicely. I like the idea of replanting along 192 w/ oaks and would support Caltrans doing this. Maybe those folks @ BW could open their wallets and purchase some oak trees so Caltrans could plant them? After all, they would be a visual amentiy to those properties eventually, like the eucs.

I'm lucky to live in a wooded area and am concerned about fire, and do what I can about cleaning gutters, mowing weeds, etc. Like so many of natures beautiful gifts, I think Eucaylyptus trees are great, even though not indigenous -- but then, I'm not either. I'm from Chicago, know quite a bit about fires, and still love all trees, including the two, hundred-year-old giants near me. Montecito, hopefully, will do a non-biased study and act responsibly. So if you're anywhere near Solvang, and see a guy hugging a very tall tree, wave to him, it's probably me.